


Stay Home

by peggy_hamilton



Category: Political Animals
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23098354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: TJ looks after you when you're sick
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my tumblr justthinkingofwaystoavoidbusses
> 
> original request: If you don’t mind I’d like another Tj one. Maybe the readers sick and Tj takes care of her or vice versa? Thank you - @rikersgirl22

You launched into another coughing fit and groaned at the pain in your chest, you lay back down on the nest of blankets and pillows you had set up on the sofa and squeezed your eyes shut. You hadn’t been sick in years but now it all came down on you and you felt like you were dying, you had a fever and there was a steady flow of used tissues falling to the floor.

“I can stay home,” TJ offered, dressed up in a suit and ready to go to some dinner with a bunch of boring politicians that his family was hosting.

You shook your head, “No, go. Your parents will kill you, plus, I’m fine,” you insisted, sounding very bunged up and the complete opposite of ‘fine’.

TJ looked hesitant, “You’re really sick, Y/N. Someone needs to take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself,” you assured, “Just go, you’ll be back later. Besides, I going to try and sleep it off.”

“Okay,” TJ mumbled, pressing a cool hand to your forehead to check your temperature. He bit his lip and looked down at you, “I’ll be back in a bit,” he promised.

You watched him head out the door and closed your eyes, you had been trying to sleep for the past hour but it was useless. You couldn’t get comfy and you were too hot, but without blankets you were too cold. Shifting you found a sort of comfy position and sighed, you wish TJ was still here with you but you knew he had to go to the dinner so you weren’t going to keep him.

About forty minutes later you heard rattling from the doorway which brought you out of your half-sleep state. You froze up, now wasn’t the best time to fend off a burglar, you could barely stand. You breathed a sigh of relief when you saw who it was, “TJ?” you asked in confusion, “Why are you back already?”

TJ shrugged, “Couldn’t leave you, could I?” he flashed you a grin. “So I said I couldn’t make it, popped out and got you some stuff. Here’s some soup, I got your favourite, and some more boxes of tissues and some medicine,” he listed as he pulled things out of the box.

You smiled gently, “Thank you.”

“Sit up.”

“Why?” you frowned in confusion.

“Soup,” TJ held up the soup and a spoon.

With a sigh, you pushed yourself up into a sitting position and turned to see TJ holding out a spoon for you to eat from. “I can eat myself,” you grumbled.

He gave you a shit-eating grin, “Maybe but c’mon, just let me take care of you.”

You rolled your eyes and opened your mouth, he fed you the spoonful and even you had to admit that it was very good soup. Slowly he fed you the entire bowl of it, it had warmed you up and you felt a lot better than you had earlier. You made a move to lie down again but TJ stopped you and held out a glass of water and some pills, “Wait, you need this.”

Eyeing the pills in disgust you reluctantly took them from his hand and swallowed them one by one with the water, you had always hated swallowing pills and it was even worse now that your throat felt small and scratchy.

Finally you shifted down into a lying position, TJ took your temperature again, “Your fever’s gone down a bit,” he told you.

You hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t open your eyes. You heard him chuckled as you fell slowly into a content sleep. TJ smiled down at you and tucked the covers tightly around your body, he settled down on the floor next to the sofa, unless you woke up in the night and needed him. He turned the tv on to the lowest volume and got comfy, he much preferred taking care of a sick you to being at a stuck up dinner with his family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> original request: ‘Stay Home’ with the roles reversed - @rikersgirl22

You twirled the hotel key card in your fingers as you waited for the elevator to bring you to the penthouse. The elevator was spacious and overly luscious, it made you feel almost as out of place as that time TJ had brought you to a family meal.

Speaking of TJ, he was who you were going to see. He was sick, and unlike most people he didn’t spend that time at home in bed. He spent it in a motel, in bed. It was something about the comfort of room service always available, sheets changed every day and not getting his own place covered in germs.

Personally, you thought it was kind of stupid but each to their own. You finally reached the top floor and swiped the plastic card in the door and it opened and let you in, walking through you saw TJ wrapped in a duvet cocoon and some old movie playing on the TV. It was a struggle to find a space of the floor that wasn’t covered in used tissues, take out boxes and old plates, he had been here a week so far and showed no sign of improving.

“This is getting ridiculous,” you said, curling your lip at the state of the room. “You aren’t even cleaning up, that’s hardly fair on the maids.”

“I’m sick,” TJ protested, his voice weak and congested.

You rolled your eyes and walked around collecting up the take out boxes and putting them in a large bin bag, “It looks like you’re back in college,” you teased.

TJ huffed a laugh and watched you clean up, safe from physical labour while wrapped in his many blankets. Thing is, he had been sick for a week because he refused to take medicine. He hated when pills got stuck in his throat and the syrups tasted ‘fucking disgusting’, but it had been a week and he showed no signs of getting better.

The room looked halfway clean with the absence of take out boxes and plates, tissues still littered the floor but you weren’t going to touch them with your bare hands. You pressed the bag of your hand to his forehead, his skin was still hot and clammy and his face was paler than usual, “Have you had any proper food this week?” you frowned.

He guiltily shook his head, “Not really,” he said quietly.

“Wait here,” you said, TJ shifted and began watching the movie again and you headed to the small kitchen that was attached to his room. You had brought a small tub of soup with you, it had gone cold but there was a microwave you could heat it up in.

A few minutes later the smell of the soup wafted through the hotel room. “Are you making soup?” you heard TJ ask perkily.

“Yup,” you smiled, taking it out and pouring it into a bowl. You blew on it to cool it as best you could then walked over to TJ, you sat down cross legged on the bed opposite him and held out the soup, “Here ya go.”

“You have to feed me,” TJ grinned.

You raised an eyebrow and laughed, “Why?”

“Because I’m sick and my coordination is all off, I could spill it all,” h replied with a shit eating grin.

You huffed and got some soup on the spoon and held it out, before he could wrap his mouth around the soup you pulled it away, “I’ll feed you if you agree to have some medicine.”

TJ scrunched his nose up, “Fine,” he relented.

You smiled, “Great! Now, open wide.”

He did so, if a little grumpily. Soon the soup was all gone and TJ lay down like a lazy content cat, you got up to put the bowl in the sink and came back with some medicine. TJ, who had forgotten your deal, made a noise of protest. “Nope, you promised,” you shook your head.

TJ grumbled and sat back up and reluctantly took the medicine, gagging at the flavour of the cough syrup and resisting the urge to spit it out. “Don’t be a baby.”

He glared at you and swallowed it down, “Good boy,” you grinned, he glared harder at you. “Get some sleep, you’ll start to feel better soon,” you said taking his temperature again which had gone down a bit.

As he snuggled up again you stood up to leave when you felt a hand catch around your wrist, “Will you stay?” he asked, looking up at you.

Not even you could resist those blue eyes, “Okay,” you agreed, sitting back down next to him and keeping watch over him as he fell back to sleep.


End file.
